Hamas on Thursday slammed the decisions of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee as "a cover up for the failure experienced in the peace talks" with Israel.The Palestinian movement said in a statement issued by its spokesman, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, "It is no longer justified or acceptable for the Arabs to continue to hide behind the words of diplomacy at the moment when the Israeli occupation announced the building of more settlement units in the city of Jerusalem and confirms the continuation of this policy."

Abu Zuhri called in the statement to stop betting on the U.S. role and to declare explicitly the halt of negotiations with the occupation and work on the adoption of new options based on upholding the rights of Palestinians.

The Arab League Committee announced yesterday after a meeting which was attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas its refusal to resume negotiations with Israel - without a serious offer from Washington to ensure an end to the conflict with Israel. It accused Washington of breaching its obligations in the talks. This was announced by the Secretary General of the organization Amr Moussa, following the results of a meeting by a committee of the Arab League on Middle East settlement.